The Cubs have yet another righthander competing for a spot on the Iowa Shuttle. Details via MLB Trade Rumors:
The Cubs have signed right-handed swingman Christian Bergman to a minor league contract, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America.
The 30-year-old Bergman was a member of the Mariners over the previous two seasons, though he spent the majority of that period with their Triple-A affiliate.
Bergman will turn 31 in May, and he also pitched in the big leagues for the Rockies from 2014-16. The honest truth is that he’s had little success in the major leagues, posting a 5.59 ERA and 1.470 WHIP in 71 appearances (25 starts) over those five seasons.
Per Brooks Baseball, Bergman is mostly a soft tosser. He’s got a decent walk rate — just two per nine innings, but his K rate is only 5.4 per nine, so any success he has would have to be from inducing ground balls. He’ll have to work on that, because he’s served up 40 home run balls in 215⅔ innings in those 71 games.
Bergman will likely join the non-roster invitees to spring training, which leads me to note that the Cubs have yet to release their NRI list. Last year, that list was released January 25, and we are now just nine days from pitcher/catcher reporting date. Hopefully, we’ll see the NRI list early this week.